--1 cup chopped up vegetables that you have on hand (celery and carrots in my case, plus I had the end of the roasted vegetables I froze)

--4 cloves of garlic ( I am STILL out of fresh garlic)

--1/4 t crushed red pepper flakes

--1/2 t cayenne pepper

--1 t cumin

--salt to taste (especially if using a no-salt broth like I was)

optional garnish:

--tortilla chips

--parmesan cheese

--sour cream

The Directions:

--dice all veggies into fine chunks

--dump everything into the crockpot

--it's okay if you have frozen stuff. My broth, vegetables and chicken were all frozen.

--totally okay to assemble the night before.

--cook on low for 8-10 hours, or high for 6 or so.

before serving, add whatever garnish you choose. We were out of tortilla chips, so I used a bit of parmesan and fat free sour cream.

The Verdict:

I ate this for lunch 4 days in a row. The liquid absorbed a bit, so it was more chowdery than soupy after the first day, but still amazingly good, and much healthier than taco bell for my Mexican Food Fix.

38 comments:

It looks really good! Nicely done. Can I ask a totally evasive question? YOu need not answer, but how much do you spend on groceries for one week? I just know if I made all these big dinners, I'd totally blow my budget of $100/week for my family of 5.

Hi Amie,I should keep better track of what we spend on groceries. I do most of my shopping at Trader Joe's, and that is a huge savings for our family. The last huge trip we did was $271 two Saturdays ago, and I haven't gone shopping since. I was actually really surprised that the bill came to that, but Adam did the shopping and bought some pre-seasoned meat and fish that I wouldn't normally.

Since we're GF, we don't buy many pre-packaged snacks, which cuts costs.

This tortilla soup was "free" since I had the chicken, the veggies and the broth already in the freezer. I chose to not go buy the tortilla chips and we had sourcream and cheese already.

I am venturing to whole foods today for some cake mix and for a hunk o' meat and am using a gift card we received for V-Day.

this has gotten long... anyhow, I am a notoriously "cheap" person. If I can buy a generic or make it myself, I will. But I'm also interested in trying some new foods out this year with my experiment and will probably buy some extra food items I wouldn't normally to satisfy my curiosity and sense of adventure.

AND! with this cooking thing, we aren't eating out much at all. We used to spend too much $$ on the weekends eating out.

I made this today and it was YUMMY! I used a frozen chub of creamed corn and a frozen seasoning blend of vegetables, fajita seasoning instead of salt and little more of the peppers. It was delicious and sooo easy! Thanks so much!

I just got back from Mexico and am craving Tortilla soup. I have to tell you though, if you are able to get it (& eat it) authentic Monchego cheese MAKES the soup (SOME people have been known to smuggle it home with them from MX). I also add chunked up avocado. **drools**

Hi Amanda, absolutely. The corn I used was frozen, but was labeled frozen roasted corn. I find it at Trader Joe's---and it tastes a bit smokier than normal frozen corn. Sweet white corn would be delicious, too.xoxosteph

Seven months later...I was wondering if you happen to know around how much random veggies you tossed into this. I have A LOT of veg in my fridge, but plan to use at least some for (more) black bean soup - which I make a couple of times a month. Thanks!

I made this a few nights ago and it was AWESOME! (yes, DJ Lance is my inner voice). I even ate the leftovers which surprised my hubby (I rarely eat left overs cause I'm strange like that).

I put a few tortilla chips at the bottom of teh bowl, poured the soup on top of it, and then sprinkled a little parm cheese on top--absolutely delicious! Even my son, who rarely eats what I cook for dinner, ate a cup!

I've found that a rotisserie chicken from costco at 4.99 works well for two days worth of meat. Last week I made an enchilada bake with half of lst weeks chicken. I bought one yesterday for dinner and toonight I making the tortilla soup with the second half. Thank you for the recipe I'm excited cause I mostly sho at Trader JOes also and it's nice to not have a recipe full of boxed this and canned that!!!Thanks

I assemble all in ingredients in m crock in a flash! Then I went out for beers and came home to a delicious smelling house. I sampled the soup after getting my buzz that night on and it was go-oood! It's fed me for 3 meals now, and I eat a lot. Very filling and pretty healthy, too.

Although I am not a vegetarian, I try to use "faux meat" as much as possible. I did use some faux chicken strips in this soup but I think it would have been much tastier with rotisserie chicken.

I am planning on making this tonight for dinner- has anyone ever used fresh zuchinni in it? I have a huge zuchinni left over from a trip to a farmers market last weeekend that I need to use. I am just curious if anyone has tried it and whether or not they would reccomend it. Thanks!

Hi SwimMom, Fresh zuchinni sounds wonderful---I think it will do just fine. If you're worried about it falling apart too much, you can put in some at the beginning for flavor, and add a bit more an hour before serving for texture.xoxosteph

Can I dump raw chicken in this recipe before I leave for work? I LOVE LOVE LOVE the taco soup recipe because I can do this. Do you know if I have to have precooked chicken for this one too? I am gone 9-10 hours, so it would be cooking for that long.

you can certainly use raw chicken, it will cook nicely for you if you're gone that long. It may clump together and cook in one big ball, though, so before serving, shred with a fork or take it out and cut into pieces, then return to the pot.

Sounds yummy! I just put my ingredients in the slow cooker and can't wait! Made ours vegetarian (although we're not I just try and make a few meals a week without meat). Veggie broth, potatoes, carrots and zucchini... didn't have any corn.

Amie, I cook for 4 adults and 3 kids and understand the budget. Recipes like this are great for saving money. Most of the ingredients you usually have on hand and it's really easy to substitute if you're missing one. When trying to stretch it out another day or so before going to the store I look at what I have in the pantry or veggies I need to use up and google a recipe using those ingredients.

I made this a few days ago, and today my son announced (just after I finished up the last of the leftovers) that he wanted that soup for supper. I guess he will have to wait :)On a cooking note: this didn't look like the tortilla soup I am used to - a little "runnier" - so I blended it up with a handheld blender, and it made a huge difference! Creamy, yummy, healthy soup!Thanks for an awesome recipe!

I've been eye-balling this recipe for a few months now and finally made it today.

WOW.

I had a whole bunch of fresh jalepenos from my friend's garden, so I nixed the pepper and pepper flakes and added a couple of chopped up jalepenos. It really gave it some heat but it has amazing flavor and is great topped with sour cream and cheese. I could eat this every day!

It would really be nice if there was a "print recipe" choice on your site. I find that I waste printer ink and end up cutting and pasting the recipe. Just a suggestion and thanks for all the great recipes.

We made this for the first time about a year ago, and we have made a quadruple batch for every single party or get together we've had since then. Always a huge hit. We had bell peppers every time, and zucchini chopped small quite often as well. Great swirl of color as well!

Hi Shaina,You are absolutely correct. I've made tortilla soup a number of times now, and each time it's slightly different. ;-)the chicken will cook well for you-- I'd just shred it before serving.enjoy!

This is DELICIOUS. I had uncooked chicken thighs on hand, so that's what I used. My crock pot cooks really hot, so 6 hours on low was perfect. My hubby was so happy I finally made this, we all had seconds. Thank you for the recipe!